July 30 – Medicare Turns 48!
On July 30, 2013, Medicare turns 48!
Tell Congress and the President that we should expand Medicare to cover everyone.
Medicare has provided longer, healthier lives and basic health security for two generations of seniors, reducing uninsurance among those over 65 to almost zero, and having the single greatest impact reducing racial inequities in healthcare in our country’s history.
Medicare is cheaper and much more popular than private health insurance. Expanding Medicare to the entire population would save more than enough to eliminate all cost sharing such as copays and deductibles, and guarantee comprehensive coverage for all.
Instead of cuts, we should expand Medicare to cover everyone living in the United States.
Dozens of organizations all over the country are planning events to celebrate Medicare on or around July 30th. Find an event near you here.
Want to organize a Medicare celebration? Here’s how.
This is the first of many actions we’re planning for the rest of the month. Next week we’ll ask you to send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. After that we’re organizing a national call-in day for HR 676. And on July 31 we’ll be joining Rep. John Conyers and other single payer groups in Washington, D.C. for a Congressional briefing on single-payer healthcare.
While I am happy with some of the reforms coming with the ACA, I agree that a universal, single-payer health care system would be so much better.
I have kids who go to public schools, and have been thinking about how bold it was for our country to provide a free public education to all children, and how frustrating it is that we didn’t have the same wisdom when we set up our health care system.
I started wondering what our education system would be like today, if we had taken a different route–What if we had privatized it in a similarly ridiculous way that we have privatized health care?
I wrote a blog piece describing this exact scenario. It’s titled “Imagine if Education were provided like Health Care in America
(Throw out the Universal Education System and bring in the Education Companies!)”you can find it at:
http://chronicaction.org/imagine-if-education-were-provided-like-healthcare-in-america
Best,
Rachel